Ouch, we had a very delicious lunch there ourselves (not shark though) in 2003. The beach looked nice, but we didn't have time to swim, just had lunch.

Percy

Jan 15th, 2010 05:56 PM

My goodness............another reason to stay away from the waters of False Bay.

I am too chicken to do ocean swimming or wading.

Bushkid0

Jan 15th, 2010 11:24 PM

Millions of people swim in South African waters every year, many going in several times a day, and many going in many times a year. I wonder what the % increase has been over the years.

And there are many, many sharks out there (and not only the marine variety).

But WOW! Suddenly there's this huge increase in shark attacks. Up to 3 attacks per year. OMW, we have to careful and avoid the ocean completely.

Get Real!

This article smacks of sensationalism!

Don't get me wrong! I don't support cage diving. If you want to dive sharks, have the courage to free-dive them! It takes no brains and no guts to sit in a cage! But as long as people will pay for this activity there will be a market.

I don't support cage diving. But I also don't support nonsense!

mkhonzo

Jan 16th, 2010 06:33 AM

What a comment:

"Don't get me wrong! I don't support cage diving. If you want to dive sharks, have the courage to free-dive them! It takes no brains and no guts to sit in a cage! But as long as people will pay for this activity there will be a market."

By implication it takes brains and guts to free dive with sharks... me thinks anyone who willingly free dives with great whites is lacking in grey matter and as for guts, well perhaps plain stupid.

I believe that there has been a pretty stiff southerly wind churning the ocean up and disorientating newly fledged seal pups from Seal Island, pushing them closer to shore and bringing a following of predatory sharks. I do not for a moment believe that this attack has any relationship with cage diving..simply a random and very sad event.

dutyfree

Jan 16th, 2010 08:22 AM

As someone who has been to this area many times,it breaks my heart to hear about another shark attack. When are you "tourists" going to realize that going cage diving and throwing out the bloody bait interferes with nature? There is absolutely no reason to have this tourist activity when there are soooooo many other things to do and see in this area. the Western Cape is gorgeous;the people friendly and welcoming;the food is yummy and the sights are unbelievable.

spassvogel

Jan 16th, 2010 09:04 AM

BK and dutyfree
I totally agree with you and a lot of scientists/conservationists that baiting the sharks for the cage dives has a lot to do with these incidents.
It's not only said in SA but also in South Australia.

mkhonzo
Here you can get some information (sorry it's in German) on how harmless sharks are (incl. great white, tiger etc).

I think it's essential for divers and swimmers alike to realise that they all join "their habitat" and if something happens it's just by accident (humans are not on any shark's menu!) or human stupidity (or if you like lack of knowledge) involved.

Takes a huge effort to get rid of the images we all have got by watching the movie - and therefore have totally wrong perceptions of sharks.

SV ((@))

Bushkid0

Jan 16th, 2010 09:54 AM

LOL mkhonzo,

The implication is wrong; the converse is not necessarily true. (I think that's something I learnt in maths, but I was thrown out of virtually every class - LOL).

At least if we have folk free diving with great whites, we might improve the universal IQ by default (and after reading the first article SV mentioned, and reading some of the comments, I've concluded that such an improvement is long overdue - LOL).